Jammu and Kashmir police have, in a rare move on Tuesday, “attached” an officer heading a police station in south Kashmir’s Shopian for his apparent failure to prevent a militant attack on migrant workers last week.
Three Bihari labourers were injured in the attack on July 13, breaking a six-week lull in militant attacks on outsiders or members of the minority community.
“In view of the incident occurred on 13-7-2023 at about 2030 hours at Gagren Shopian, Inspector Gh Jeelani Bhat (AWP) (SHO P/S Shopian)PID No ARP-109258, is attached to RPHQ (Range Police Headquarter) Anantnagpending inquiry,” reads an order issued by Rayees Mohammad Bhat, deputy inspector-general (DIG) of police of south Kashmir range.
The order will take immediate effect.
Attachment is sort of a punishment where officers involved play only a subordinate role.
The order doesn’t mention how the officer failed to prevent the attack.
Police sources said the order carried a tough message for cops to take all possible measures to prevent militant attacks or face action. They said two militants were involved in the July 13 attack. They had opened fire and injured three labourers identified as Anmol Kumar, Pintu Kumar and Heeralal Yadav. All three were residents of Sapaul in Bihar.
A militant campaign to target outsiders and members of the minority Hindu community started soon after the 2019 scrapping of special status. Militant groups as well as locals believe the Centre wants to change the demography of the Muslim-majority region by allowing outsiders to settle here.
The administration has failed to prevent such attacks despite the presence of security forces in every nook and corner of the region. However, the attacks have failed to drive out the migrant labourers who work in lakhs here.
On February 26, suspected militants gunned down a Kashmiri Hindu, Sanjay Kumar Sharma, outside his home in Pulwama’s Achen village. Sharma was working as a security guard for a bank there.
On May 29, suspected militants killed Deepak Kumar, a circus performer, in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Kumar was a resident of Udhampur in Jammu.
